Antiwar.com Blog

The phone rang quite early this morning — my sister on the East coast telling me about the London Tube incident. Okay, so I knew this was going to be a long day, but little did I suspect … Anyway, about two minutes ago a policeman rings my bell and tells me that a suspicious package has been found in the high school directly across the street from my house “Keep away from your windows, and get back” the policeman politely but firmly told me.

The place is roped off, and I can hear sirens. My Significant Other went outside and was summarily ordered to get back in the house.

Good grief.

Well, I was going to go to the gym early today, but I guess not ….

Developing….

UPDATE: The bomb squad showed up, x-rayed a suspicious package, and it turned out to be just some homeless guy’s rag-bag of clothing. I spoke to the policeman who had rung our doorbell earlier, and he said they were sorry about the bother but — ‘in view of what’s been happening lately” — they thought it best to be on the lookout.

The worst part of it was being stuck in the house while, on the television, Tony Blair’s voice droned pompously on ….

Well, if I don’t go the gym, the terrorists will have won. So, see ya later …..

It looks like there has been another attack on London: three underground stations — Warren Street, Shepherd’s Bush, and Oval — appear to have been hit by explosions of some sort. While information is sketchy, at the moment, these three Tube stations have been evacuated. There was also an incident on a bus, which had its windows blown out.

There is a report of a nail bomb exploding. No reports of any casualties so far.

Developing….

UPDATE: Police have entered London’s College University Hospital, and cordoned it off.

UPDATE II: There’s a suspect.

Daniel McAdams on what Congress did while you weren’t paying attention yesterday.

But what use is the application of the Lenin and Trotsky perfected techniques of the coup d’etat without the stabilization shock troops on the ground to consolidate the gains? Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution was ambiguous to say the least. Imagine what could have been done with stabilization troops available to husband the votes into a more creative expression of the universal democratic imperative.

Read the whole thing.

The newest issue of the Claremont Review of Books (Summer 2005) begins an appeal for funds (“Make the Pledge”–p. 40) with this statement: “Our country is at war, and at the heart of a successful war effort must be the political conviction that this country is worth fighting and dying for.” What the Claremont warmongers really mean is that “this government is worth fighting and dying for.” But the 1,770 American soldiers who died in Iraq died in vain. They gave their lives for a government that is despicable in every way, beginning at the top. The country of the Founding Fathers invoked by The Claremont Institute is long gone.

Hat Tip: The Libertarian Enterprise.

The controversy continues over an Associated Press story detailing the remarks of a “senior Israeli official” who claimed that Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in London for an economic conference, was warned by Scotland Yard “minutes” in advance of the terrorist bombings. According to the original story, Netanyahu’s prior knowledge was the cause of his not showing up at the conference, which took place at a hotel near the Liverpool Underground station. A subsequent AP report contained the Israeli’s government’s denial of a prior warning, and claimed that Netanyahu received a warning after the blasts.

Although the first AP story was never retracted, that didn’t prevent Israel’s American amen corner from claiming that it had been withdrawn, nor did it stop Stratfor.com from coming out with an analysis claiming that Israel knew “days” in advance, and that it wasn’t Scotland Yard that informed Netanyahu. Former intelligence analyst Tommy Preston, of Preston Global, concurred.

My own column drawing on these sources drew fire, not only from the usual suspects, but also from dailykos.com, the Democratic party website spawned by the Dean campaign. “Antiwar.com is not a legitimate source,” declared one poster.

This from a website that headlined “Did BushCo Tip Off London Bombers?”!

An author who goes by the name “DHinMI” manufactured a quote, purportedly from me, that was nothing more than a crude fabrication: it had quote marks around it, as if I had written it, when in reality I had written no such thing. DhinMI’s point: that to even suggest that Netanyahu had advance notice of the London bombings is so obviously an “anti-Semitic conspiracy theory” that no discussion is required, regardless of what the Associated Press reports.

The Kossacks, as they call themselves, are trying to clean their act up so that they can be more closely associated with the Democratic party apparatus. However, why limit themselves to condemning my column: why not condemn AP as an “illegitimate source” for publishing the news of Netanyahu’s foreknowledge to begin with? And while they’re at it, they need to add a few more media source to the list, including some of the Israeli media. Israel Insider cites Mossad chief Meir Dagan, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag:

“The Mossad office in London received advance notice about the attacks, but only six minutes before the first blast, the paper reports, confirming an earlier AP report. As a result, it was impossible to take any action to prevent the blasts.”

Here is the Bild am Sonntag story in German, and a Google translation.

Is this just empty boasting on the part of the Mossad chief, or is there some truth to the initial AP report? Is Meir Dagan spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories?

We report. You decide.

I might add that some of the DailyKos folks are shocked – shocked! – that Antiwar.com opposed the Kosovo war. We, in turn, are shocked at the hypocrisy of those who support a war of aggression against a country, Yugoslavia, that had never attacked us, and that was never sanctioned by the United Nations. They only oppose wars started by Republicans: we at Antiwar.com, on the other hand, oppose all wars of aggression, regardless of the partisan affiliation of those in power at the time.